1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of data protection, and in particular to protecting data from illicit copying from a remote location.
2. Description of Related Art
The protection of data is becoming an increasingly important area of security. In many situations, the authority to copy or otherwise process information is correlated to the physical proximity of the information to the device that is effecting the copying or other processing. For example, audio and video performances are recorded on CDs, DVDs, and the like. If a person purchases a CD or DVD, the person traditionally has a right to copy or otherwise process the material, for backup purposes, to facilitate use, and so on. When the person who purchased the material desires to use the material, it is not unreasonable to assume that the person will have the CD or DVD within physical proximity of the device that will use the material. If, on the other hand, the person does not have proper ownership of the material, it is likely that the person will not have physical possession of the material, and hence, the material will be physically remote from the device that is intended to use the material. For example, the illicit copying or rendering of material from an Internet site or other remote location corresponds to material being physically remote from the device that is used to copy the material.
In like manner, security systems are often configured to verify information associated with a user, such as verifying biometric parameters, such as fingerprints, pupil scans, and the like. In a simpler example, security systems are often configured to process information provided by a user, such as information contained on an identification tag, smartcard, etc. Generally, the information or parameters can be provided easily by an authorized user, because the authorized user is in possession of the media that contains the information. An unauthorized user, on the other hand will often not have the original media that contains the verification information, but may have a system that can generate/regenerate the security information or parameters from a remote location. Similarly, some systems, such as an office LAN, or computers in a laboratory, are configured to be secured by controlling physical access to terminals that are used to access the system. If the user has access to the system, the assumption is that the user is authorized to access the system. Some security measures, such as identification verification, are sometimes employed, but typically not as extensively as the security measures for systems that lack physical isolation.